Enbridge cleaning up Wisconsin oil pipeline spill

The incident is being investigated by US regulators, and comes at a sensitive time as the company moves ahead with controversial expansion plans two years after a larger spill from a Michigan pipeline. Enbridge said it exposed the damaged pipe in Wisconsin and moved most of the contaminated soil.

Keywords:

By DOUG CAMERON and CAROLYN KING

Enbridge said it planned on Monday to replace a section of
an oil pipeline in Wisconsin that leaked Friday, though it
doesn't have a restart date for the key energy artery carrying
Canadian crude to the US.

The company reopened three other pipelines Saturday that had
been shuttered after the spill from the Line 14 pipe, which
released an estimated 1,200 bbl of oil near Grand Marsh,
Wis.

The Wisconsin incident is being investigated by Enbridge and
US regulators, and comes at a sensitive time as the Canadian
company presses ahead with controversial expansion plans two years after a
much larger spill from a pipeline in Michigan.

Enbridge said Sunday that it exposed the damaged pipe in
Wisconsin and moved a "majority" of the contaminated soil.

"A new section of pipe is tentatively scheduled to be
installed on July 30," said Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine
Little in an email.

Line 14 is operated by Houston-based affiliate Enbridge
Energy Partners, and has a capacity of 317,600 bpd of crude oil
to Chicago-area refineries. It carries nearly a fifth of total
crude imports into the region, according to the US Energy
Information Administration.

Enbridge said Saturday that representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are on site.

"At this time, Enbridge does not have an estimated time for
restart for Line 14. Line 13 was restarted late Saturday
evening. Lines 6A and 61 were safely returned to service early
Saturday morning," said Ms. Little.

Midwest oil inventories stand at almost 110 million bbl, a
near-record high, according to the EIA.

The build-up is due in part to an oil drilling boom in south
Texas, North Dakota and other regions, as recent advances in
drilling technology unlocked oil and natural
gas from shale formations formerly considered uneconomical.

The Wisconsin incident comes two years after an oil spill
from an Enbridge pipeline in Michigan, one of the worst oil
spills ever in the US Midwest. The July 2010 spill led to one
of the costliest ever onshore cleanups in US history.

An Enbridge pipeline spilled about 1,450 bbl of oil in
Alberta last month.

Dow Jones Newswires

Have your say

All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.